Ambivalence
by inae
Summary: Asami and Mako are having some relationship issues, especially with Korra in the picture. Can they make up like Asami wants to, or will things be severed forever?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Thanks for reading this! I'm not planning for this story to be particularly long, probably a few more chapters at most, so bear with me. It ends in some smut. Enjoy!

* * *

Asami _was_ glad Korra was back.

Korra was spunky, compassionate, kind...and maybe a little selfish, self-absorbed, and a boyfriend-stealer.

Asami quickly shook her head, immediately guilting herself for accusing Korra of doing something that Asami knew she had not done...yet. The once-heiress sighed heavily and sat down on the rickety bed Tenzin and Pemma had provided her on Air Temple Island. She was very grateful to the couple, but she also missed home; worst of all, she missed her father. She just felt that everything was out of control, and that she had no say in what was happening in her life anymore. Even Mako who she thought she could trust had turned out..._differently_ than she had expected.

She was glad for the sudden intrusion because Asami knew that if she were left to her own devices for 10 more seconds, she would have started crying from desperation and frustration. When she looked up, half-hoping that it was Mako wanting to make up, she was accosted with Bolin instead.

"Hey Bolin," she greeted with a weary smile. "What's up?"

The earth bender was always sunny and ready with a smile. Asami greatly appreciated his presence in the group because he made her laugh and was a genuinely kind man...too bad his elder brother did not take after him much.

"Asami!" he said, bouncing lightly on his toes. "I'm here to tell you it's time for dinner. What do you think Pemma made tonight? I was trying to see what was happening in the kitchen earlier, but would you believe it she wouldn't even let me in because she said I was hazardous. Me? Hazardous? Please, that woman needs to-"

Asami, her mood clearing considerably already due to Bolin's mindless babble, chuckled lightly. "Well let's go see." She sniffed the air delicately. "Yeah it _does_ smell good. Mm... Oh!"

She had not noticed that the fire ferret has also slipped into the room along with Bolin. Pabu had quickly ran along her feet and jumped onto the bed, curling up in her lap. Asami broke out into a full-fledged laugh this time. She scratched behind Pabu's ears, liking the warmth the small animal provided in the slightly chilly room. _I should hang out with Bolin more_, she thought to herself grimly, _at least he acknowledges that I exist._

Bolin was hungry enough to eat Oogie, Tenzin's flying bison, but he noticed that something was wrong with the usually confident and bright young woman. He sat down next to her on the bed, trying to ignore his stomach's rumbling.

"You've been in here all day," he offered, reaching over and playing with Pabu's flicking tail.

"Yeah...I guess so," Asami said non-commitally, looking over at her boyfriend's younger brother. He was handsome in a way Mako wasn't. Mako was all limbs—lanky and brooding. Bolin was stockier, and definitely more muscled. His facial features said he was open and trusting, and Asami liked how simple he was. He was easily pleased and was easy to read...so different from, well...

"Err," Bolin started awkwardly, knowing he might be treading in dangerous territory. "Is everything okay?"

Bolin was friends with Asami. Not _good_ friends, but he liked her, and he liked her cars, and he didn't quite like her father, but she treated Mako well so that was good enough for Bolin. He didn't like knowing that anyone was sad, and even though he didn't know for sure if Asami was upset, he could tell by the way she was playing with the fabric of her silk skirt that she was thinking-thinking hard about something. It was the same way with Mako. Whenever the fire bender began tugging on his scarf, Bolin knew that he was trying to figure something out.

Asami took a deep breath and closed her green eyes. When she opened them again, she knew what she needed to ask. "Bolin...does Mako have feelings for Korra?"

Bolin flinched and flushed a deep red. "Uhh well I mean we all have feelings for each other don't we? I mean I feel a lot of things and Mako does too and I mean he feels really happy when we do well in the arena and-"

"You know what I mean," Asami said quietly, staring down at the bright-red fur that was settled in her lap. She could tell from Bolin's reaction that maybe she was on the right track... She pressed her lips together and hoped she wasn't. Pabu squeaked indignantly, and Asami looked down in surprise, realizing that in her stress she had clenched the little ferret's fur. "Oh, sorry," she breathed. Pabu got up in a huff and settled himself on Bolin's shoulder, waving his tail in her face offendedly.

Bolin quieted down, his hand aimlessly petting Pabu. He let out a long sigh and looked at her with something like empathy and understanding in his green eyes. "Well...I once..."

Asami waited for him to finish, giving him time to collect himself.

"I once saw them kissing," he blurted out finally, curling up in a ball as if expecting Asami to hit him.

She, however, didn't really know how to feel. She just felt numb. Staring down at her pale hands, she really wanted to scream, shout, cry, _anything_, but...

Bolin slowly uncurled from his defensive stance, peeking at her to gauge her reaction.

"Let's go," Asami said abruptly, standing up quickly and heading for the door. "I'm starving."

Bolin stared at her retreating form in confusion. Girls were weird.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner was, to say the least, awkward.

Every few seconds Bolin would flash Asami a guilty grimace that Asami would never acknowledge. Actually, Asami acted her normal self, except maybe she was a bit rougher with her utensils than usual, slamming her fork down at one point and muttering, "Sorry."

Mako knew something was up, but he didn't know quite what. Korra was busy regaling him with stories of her training today – training which she had skipped, to Tenzin's annoyance, and spent the day instead fishing in the pristine waters surrounding Air Temple Island. The Avatar was funny. Mako liked her, and maybe at one point he had liked her _too_ much than was perhaps allowable. Gulping down his cup of tea too hastily and burning his throat to avoid thinking of the..._incident_...he began coughing. Korra slapped him on the back a couple of times rather energetically and Mako did not miss the glare Asami shot him from across the table. _Oh boy..._

Tenzin and his children did not seem to notice anything, and Pema was busy scolding Meelo for air bending pieces of food onto his plate to realize how uncomfortable Bolin was or how Asami was gradually beginning to grasp her knife harder and harder. Finally, the once-heiress stood up abruptly. The entire dinner table stopped to look at her. "I'm..." she began, her green eyes flickering from Korra to Mako, "I'm going to go wash up."

"Oh, Asami, thank you," Pema breathed. It was getting close to her time to give birth and the nonbender was having trouble moving easily.

"No problem," Asami added graciously, and then somewhat venomously continuing, "I like to put the needs of others before my own, that's all."

Korra stopped picking her teeth with her fork to glance up at the slim, statuesque girl. Her blue eyes conveyed puzzlement, but Mako had flushed to a deep red.

Later as Asami scraped rather viciously at her plate in the sink, Mako stormed into the kitchen. "What was _that_ about?"

She whirled on him, her dark, wavy hair slapping him full on in the face. "You tell me! How long have you been hiding what happened between you and Korra?"

Mako scowled, his thick brows furrowing. "What are you talking about? Korra and I have ne-"

"I know about the kiss, Mako," Asami broke in. Eyes downcast, her hands were gripping the plate as if it were a lifeline. She looked up through her lashes at the firebender. "Why?"

The hurt in her voice shot through Mako like an arrow. He found that he could not bear to keep her steady gaze. "I'm sorry... It happened once, a while ago. She started it, I just-"

"I've heard enough."

"Asami, look-"

"Go."

As he was leaving the kitchen, he bumped into Pema who was precariously balancing a load of dishes.

"Mako," she called as he passed her. "The best thing to do when a girl is mad at you is just to be sincere and apologize."

He flinched. "But I already did and she didn't even listen!"

Pema breathed through her nose slowly and closed her eyes, shifting her weight from one foot to the other to balance the dishes she was carrying. "Mako," she began slowly, as if talking to a child, "she's just mad right now. Give her some time, she'll come around."

Mako rubbed his temples. "Yeah okay. Thanks, Pema." He looked up at the woman who had let him into her home so selflessly and added, "I'll take those dishes for you."

But when he stepped back into the kitchen, Asami was gone.

* * *

Mako was reclining on Naga, Korra's huge polar bear dog, and looking at the stars above him, trying to sort out his thoughts.

"Hey!" a voice shouted, and Korra landed next to him with a soft _thump_. She was always so energetic and ready to go that it made Mako want to curl up and go to sleep.

"Hi Korra," Mako replied rather dejectedly, his hand ruffling his usually impeccable hair.

"What's up? What was going on with you and Asami tonight? I heard voices from the kitchen." Korra settled herself, resting her head on Naga.

Mako knew she was only trying to look out for him as a friend, but what he said next came out short. "This needs to stop."

Korra raised a lone brow, waiting for him to continue.

He sighed. "I really care about Asami. And the...the kiss was wrong, Korra. And I regret it."

The Avatar closed her bright blue eyes. She was upset, Mako could tell.

"Is this what you and Asami were talking about tonight? How to get rid of me?"

"No!" Mako cried, frustrated that he was getting this all wrong. "No it's not like that."

She began in a low voice. "Mako, I have...you _know_ I have feelings for you...and I thought you felt the same way..."

Naga rumbled a bit in her low voice, nuzzling Korra, sensing the girl's distress. She began to absentmindedly pat the beast's head, burying her tan face in the white fur.

Mako reached out to stroke Korra's back, but thought better of it, retrieving his hand as if it had been shocked.

"I was confused," he confessed. "You're amazing, you really are. But Asami's my _girlfriend._"

"Don't I mean anything to you?" Korra interjected, lifting her face. Mako couldn't tell if she was mad, hurt, or ready to kiss him. He thought it was probably safe to assume that she felt all three.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course you do. You're one of my best friends!"

"Ugh!" Korra punched the ground, startling Naga, and creating a huge boulder off in the distance. "I don't want to _be_ a friend."

"Korra, the answer is no. And I'm sorry," Mako said as firmly as he could muster, but his voice broke anyway. He hated making her upset. He hadn't been lying when he had said that the Avatar was one of his best friends. She _was_. He could tell her things that he knew Bolin and Asami would not understand, but that was that. She was just a friend.

"Go," she muttered, her hand gripping Naga's fur.

Mako stood up, feeling terrible. "I...I'm sorry," he offered and walked back to the house where he knew Asami was waiting for an explanation.


End file.
